The Alliance for Public Schools, a grass-roots organization of education activists, was founded in November 2012 by retired teachers Karel Kilimnik and Lisa Haver. After years of watching the destructive actions of the School Reform Commission, it became clear to us that we needed to follow the money to see who was making decisions behind closed doors.

In January 2013, APPS members requested admittance, and were denied, to the board meetings of the William Penn Foundation after its multi-million grant to the Boston Consulting Group. The resulting BCG plan recommended a radical overhaul of the district, including school closures, more charter schools and the creation of non-geographic administrative offices which could be run by non-educators. APPS members subsequently demanded that the public be admitted to meetings of both the Philadelphia School Partnership and the Great Schools Compact Committee as crucial decisions about funding, administrative training and development were again being made behind closed doors. Both refused to allow public participation. [See below for details on these organizations.]

Since APPS’s inception last year, the organization has grown to include school staff (both active and retired teachers, counselors, librarians, nurses), parents, and community members. Members regularly attend and speak at SRC meetings and community meetings on issues including school closures, funding and the new School Performance Index.

Some 2013 APPS highlights:

November 2013 Conversation with City Paper Writer Daniel Denvir
APPS organizes community meetings to further our understanding of who is making decisions, without public input, about public education.